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My Rostock MAX v2 and I are reconciling after a little away time. I had become frustrated with printing with PLA, and with small parts. For Halloween we tried printing up some Harry Potter Wands for the kids, and failed miserably. Luckily for me, this is a hobby, so I could put it down for a bit and come back when I was in a better mood.

So - funny thing happened when I came back to it. Everything jammed. Everything. I finally gave it a good inspection and realized the PEEK fan on the E3Dv6 was out. My heatbreak was full of impacted PETG and printing was not possible. (I strongly suspect the fan was not spinning properly for a while, leading to many of the prior problems.)

This weekend I need to rebuild the hotend. I ordered some parts that should arrive this week. I also intend to add the yellowjacket. Anyway, I have a couple of questions.

1 - Is the Berd Air capable of being the complete cooling solution, or do you run it in addition to cooling fans? It looks like the pump could damage my Duet? I don't have the Wifi version. If anyone has a link to the solution, I'd appreciate it.

2 - I have a Raymond Enclosure, and I have been running one of the printable ducted effectors. However, I've been considering moving to the 713maker mount/effector. Many times I'm printing without the need for the cooling fans. Do folks remove the fans when not using them, or let them ride around regardless? My impression is that adding fans to the 713 will markedly decrease my print area diameter because of the enclosure. Other than looking sleek and cool, do the metal effectors add noticeably to the precision and/or performance of the machine?

3 - I've been using FabLam as a print surface. Is PEI more durable? I haven't mastered warp free printing yet with ABS, but FabLam seems to create good adhesion. To help with print removal, I have considered putting FabLam on a polycarbonate disk. I'm thinking I could flex it to pop parts off. Does this create other problems (i.e. prevent the FSRs from triggering properly, soften/melt from the onyx, create insurmountable bed leveling issues)?

I guess I could do some trial and error, but I thought I'd ask this esteemed group first.

Thanks for any advice/guidance.

Dionysus480 wrote: 1 - Is the Berd Air capable of being the complete cooling solution, or do you run it in addition to cooling fans? It looks like the pump could damage my Duet? I don't have the Wifi version. If anyone has a link to the solution, I'd appreciate it.

For ABS, I use it as a complete cooling solution. For PLA, I use it to supplement fans since the enclosure traps enough heat to make the fans slightly less effective, while the Berd Air doesn't care. I haven't burnt the fan header on my Duet .8.5 yet, although I don't use the Berd-Air max, and use a relatively low throttle since I usually use ABS. I also have 1.1A polyfuses on each fan lead which may be clamping the back EMF due to their resistance rising. I believe that adding a diode to prevent back EMF and a fuse somewhere along is just good practice. See articles on flyback/snubber diodes, and back EMF prevention.

Dionysus480 wrote: 2 - I have a Raymond Enclosure, and I have been running one of the printable ducted effectors. However, I've been considering moving to the 713maker mount/effector. Many times I'm printing without the need for the cooling fans. Do folks remove the fans when not using them, or let them ride around regardless? My impression is that adding fans to the 713 will markedly decrease my print area diameter because of the enclosure. Other than looking sleek and cool, do the metal effectors add noticeably to the precision and/or performance of the machine?

I actually keep the fans on a different effector most of the time. ABS and PETG aren't doing too badly with just a Berd-Air, so I leave the fans on my Seeme effector rather than the E3D one (I did change out the thermistor and add a berd air, not to mention that it got migrated to ball cup from the old U-joint design, so I'm not going to call it stock). It is true that adding the fans decreases the effective printable radius, however I find the ones you need the fans with most also print better without the enclosure. I found that I could mount a Berd-Air more easily as well as getting some small amount of Z-height back with the 713 effector (Full disclosure, I picked mine up at the Detroit maker faire prior to official release, having made a specific request for it, and no longer use it with standard spacers, so YMMV). I also had previously caused some warping in my E3D effector prior to the change because I allowed the hotend to pivot around where it partially melted the effector.

Dionysus480 wrote: 3 - I've been using FabLam as a print surface. Is PEI more durable? I haven't mastered warp free printing yet with ABS, but FabLam seems to create good adhesion. To help with print removal, I have considered putting FabLam on a polycarbonate disk. I'm thinking I could flex it to pop parts off. Does this create other problems (i.e. prevent the FSRs from triggering properly, soften/melt from the onyx, create insurmountable bed leveling issues)?

I believe PEI in the thicker form is more durable. I have yet to see it torn despite having abused it pretty well, and the only portion I've permanently damaged came from reckless use of a heat gun. However, I have heard that it can crack. But it works for 1000's of prints pretty easily, and I personally love it, since poking it with a hot nozzle doesn't do much at all. I would worry about the Fablam on poly with FSR's since it would likely cause it to soften and dimple when probed at temp, as well as the nozzle likely damaging the Fablam. The polycarbonate would also be likely to take and hold a curve over time, which would cause the issues you foresaw with leveling. If you like the Fablam, I would use it at least until it dies, but I wouldn't combine polycarbonate and FSR's, as the stiffness of the glass helps transmit the probe points and maintain a flat(ter) surface.

1) if by "complete cooling solution" you mean for both the hot end and part, then "no". You need a fan for the E3D V6 hot break like always. The Berd Air is a part cooling device and it is all you need. DO NOT POWER the pump motor directly from a Duet as it will blow the FET. You can search threads here on alternative ways to interface it, or about the flyback diode on the Duet wiki/forum or the BerdAir developer has a new device to interface it affordably.

PEI in .03" is WAY MORE DURABLE than all of the other thin film surfaces. I've been using my original sheet for years now. And it can be repaired and rejuvenated. There are some thin PEI films on the market for cheap, I'd avoid those primarily because they are a pain to install without bubbles or wrinkles that will affect your prints. The .03" stuff is thick enough that this is not an issue. FSRs are no problem with PEI. IR probing requires you paint the back of the PEI black (which I now do all the time because I like the way it looks and it's easy to see first layers for almost all filament colors), the jury is still out on accelerometer probing and PEI (or any other non-hard surface). I am getting closer and almost acceptable results.

Thank you guys so much for the replies and expertise. I'll do the research on the diodes and small fuses. And my apologies, I was imprecise on the language I used. I did indeed refer to part cooling, since I'm aware that the hotend fan will still need to be separate from any Berd Air. I'm very interested in adding a Berd Air because it could pull cooler air from outside my enclosure for the purpose of part cooling. (I understand that the actual temperature delivered to the part will vary with flow rates.) I don't heat the enclosure separate from the bed, so this may be moot. But, if it eliminates the need for the bulky part cooling fans, I still see benefit.

I'll look into the PEI. I'm interested in something more durable. Honestly, I've found getting good prints very challenging and I've learned so much in the process. I'm actively looking to eliminate all these little variables that create slop and imprecision in the system. I know I can't eliminate it all, but I have a better understanding of what might cause my FSRs to respond poorly, or my bed to be un-level.

OK - to be fair, the timing on the rebuild isn't random. I'm looking at my fly-rod in my closet and thinking two things. Sublime Layers has a project I really want to try. And those flys aren't going to catch anything in my closet. Got to make time to get them wet. (Salute)

Thanks again.